Sudden Departure

Chapter Twenty-Four

I stumbled from the portal, a huge grin still slapped across my face. Hanging out with Alex made me feel more alive than I had in a while.

Outside of the Gateway, I heard the roar of chatter in the main hall.

It sounds pretty late in the day, I thought as I slipped from the Gateway and into the crowd.

"Shailene! Shai-lene!" Nebula shouted. Her chocolate curls bounced above the throngs of rushing people. She howled my name and enunciated each syllable.

"Over here," I waved at them with a smile. Quickly, I shoved myself through the masses and met up with her and the gang.

"Where have you been? And why is your hair so wet?" Millie interrogated, gesturing to my sopping hair and shoulders.

"Oh," I rapidly decided on an excuse, "I was in the shower. What's wrong?"

Nebula pursed her lips and raised an eyebrow skeptically as Terrance answered my question. "Death has been looking all over for you!"

"Oh, yeah. We just talked. All he wanted to tell me is that I haven't been assigned yet, but he knows why. He just wont tell me." I feigned my response. My bitterness was real, though.

I was getting really good at this "faking it" thing.

Hershel was about to speak, but I cut him off. "Hey, guys. I gotta split, but I'll talk to you later. In the Rec-Room, maybe?"

They all agreed before I turned and left. I headed to the showers, for real this time.

I groaned in disgust as I peeled off my wet bathing suit. Brown sand spilled out and landed on the tiled shower floors. "Grody," I mumbled as I flicked it towards the clothing incinerator with my foot.

Here they had no need to rewash clothes and wear them again. We were in the second dimension, basically a magic realm, and we didn't need old clothes. They kind of just appeared and were redistributed to us in a little slot just outside of the shower door.

I stepped forward turned on the water with my mind, just like the elevator.

Even though we were workers, and, technically, not members of paradise, we still didn't miss out on certain aspects of luxury. Just things like gourmet food, fancy showers, and futuristic gaming appliances.

The shower head immediately shot out water that was comfortably scalding. I used a loofah and rose-scented soap to scrub off any remaining sand. I also cleansed my hair of lake water.

After I finished "de-laking," I stood under the water and waited for the water timer to time-out. To pass the time, I grabbed at the flab around my mid-section and slapped it so it would jiggle. I know, I was pretty weird.

The water finally shut off with a loud click. It left me in a steamy silence. After a few seconds, a gentle whirring started and warm, dry air blew gently on my skin. I smiled, welcoming the heat.

The warm air gradually stopped. Imeadiately afterwards, an audible whoosh and ding sounded from the cubby-hole outside of the shower door. I thrust my arm out of the stall and groped around on the shelf. I peered around and saw others from different stalls doing the same. I pulled out my fluffy, heated towel and my pile of equally warm clothes.

When I reentered the stall, the little room had changed from a shower to a dressing room. A full length mirror and vanity was against one wall and shelves of perfume, lotions, and makeup were against the another.

Little, round speaker were lined along the walls at regular distances. The control panel was on the back of the door.

I smiled happily as I began pressing buttons on the little screen. I created a playlist of various artist; ranging from people like Vance Joy to My Chemical Romance.